Sabbatical Day 6

One of the best things about this place is ice cream from the Snack Shack. It shouldn't be anything so special; it comes from one of those run of the mill ice cream machines. But ice cream from the magic machine at Fun Valley tastes like a dream. You can get vanilla, chocolate or swirl, in a cup, or on a cone, or made into a thick shake that promises brain freeze (or as Rylie used to say "freeze brain"). 

I get chocolate. Always. 

It's my second food of choice from the ole Snack Shack I dearly love. My first favorite is....wait for it...the Allsup's Fried Burrito (from, you know, the gas station Allsups). It comes with one of those paper sleeves and, new this year, two packets of taco sauce. I had that burrito Saturday. 

While Jason and I were waiting in line I overheard the blonde lady who takes orders at the window tell the customer in front  "Sorry, but the ice cream machine is froze over."  To save herself further grief, the blonde lady shouted the announcement to the rest of us in line, "No ice cream".

 De' javu. This frequently happens, as does what follows. 

The customer audibly complains, or they grimace as if they'd just been given bad test results. (We love our ice cream). I can imagine myself in such a position as the disappointed lady, smiling, but moaning "Oh man".  

This time the customer must have chosen the frowny-face reaction because I could hear "disappointed herself, blonde lady " tell the customer (hoping we'd all hear her) that nobody was as sorry that the machine wasn't working as she was. She expressed that she hates making customers unhappy. 

Me? I was fine. I was ordering my first sabbatical burrito. 

Yesterday Jason and I decided to take our second walk to the Snack Shack because somebody had a hankering for chocolate ice cream. As I slipped on my new pair of green tennis shoes, purchased to counteract Snack Shack visits, I remembered the debacle from Friday. 

"They might not have ice cream," I thought. "No grimacing.", I told myself. 

Still confident that yesterday's machine issues were resolved, I lightheartedly walked in step with my husband, eager to get my kiddie cone. 

As we reached second in line the sad announcement came. No ice cream. I thought about how often those in customer service, like the blonde lady, deal with let down people. I quickly adjusted my face into a "who needs the calories anyway" smile. We walked away empty-handed. 

On the walk back to the camper I thought (and am still thinking) of the things that irk us and how freely we share our dissatisfaction. 

We want what we want and we want it now.  

Our patience and kindness has a way of shutting down like the ice cream machine at the Snack Shack.  We forget to take into consideration that, maybe, the machine's cooperation is outside "the blonde lady's" control. 

Then there are those times when it is in someone's control to serve us properly and efficiently. 

A friend posted on Facebook a few days ago how a woman berated a teenager for counting out her change incorrectly at Sonic (not corrected, berated). She said the teenager ended up in tears. 

We can point out to a person, their inability to please us or we can give them what Michael Bolton sang about "time, love and tenderness". 

Here's where sabbath rest comes in. I'm grumpier, and less patient when I'm tired. I'm less pleasant and less patient when I'm in a hurry and something goes wrong. 

It's in this rest, this "slow down" we've so graciously been given that I have a little renewed energy that comes in handy, aiding me in proper behavior. It's in this break from the rush that I'm reminded of the opportunity we have, to stress or bless people we come in contact with, even if it's for sixty seconds at the cash register. 

I'm the hurrying kind. I'll get back to the quick pace. It's my prayer that when I do, that this perspective will be brought to mind...that I'll have stored up some patience and some goodness that I can break out when someone presents me with disappointment. 

When we return from this special break from the rat race, I hope that I'll make time for rest...that I'll spend time in prayer and reflection, trusting God to mold me into a person more easily dealt with. 

We all need rest and renewal. Though making time for it can be quite a challenge, it will benefit us and those around us who probably need a break themselves. 

Galatians 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.